A common fishing rod has a prepreg wound around the body of the rod. The prepreg is reinforced fibers extended in a specific direction and impregnated with a synthetic resin. The fishing rod has a tubular structure in order to reduce the weight of the rod. However, a tip of the rod may be made solid to obtain flexibility and to prevent damage thereon when the tip portion of the rod is largely bent by fish bites.
Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. S54-80372 and H9-248103 disclose a solid tip made of a so-called fiber-reinforced resin material formed from a reinforced fiber (a carbon fiber, a glass fiber or the like) impregnated with a synthetic resin. The fiber-reinforced resin material is typically formed by pultrusion and the fiber is disposed continuously from a proximal end to a distal end of the tip rod. The tip rod formed as described above is tapered by grinding a surface of the tip rod in order to impart a certain type of action to the rod.
The above-mentioned conventional tip rods are made of reinforced fibers extending from a proximal end to a distal end (a continuous fiber solid body). When such tip rods are tapered by cutting, the reinforced fibers arranged in a surface area are cut and end surfaces of the fibers are exposed. When the cutting end surfaces of the reinforced fibers are exposed, chipping could easily occur from such surfaces and this leads to snapping and other breakages. Moreover, when the surfaces are frayed and if a fishing line contacts therewith, the fishing line could be damaged.